{"id":2712,"date":"2012-11-27T12:15:30","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T20:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=2712"},"modified":"2012-11-30T16:43:54","modified_gmt":"2012-12-01T00:43:54","slug":"giving-tuesday-to-keep-christ-in-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/giving-tuesday-to-keep-christ-in-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Giving Tuesday\u2019 to keep Christ in Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texting MALARIA to 27722 on Nov. 27 for #GIVING TUESDAY sends a $10 donation to the United Methodist Church\u2019s Imagine No Malaria. A UMNS graphic by Kathleen Barry.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

A UMNS Feature by Barbara Dunlap-Berg*<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

With\u00a0Black Friday<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Small Business Saturday<\/a>\u00a0behind and hours left inCyber Monday<\/a>, it\u2019s time to gear up for Nov. 27 \u2014\u00a0Giving Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a day for giving back, and United Methodist-related\u00a0Imagine No Malaria<\/a>is a good place to start. For Giving Tuesday, people can save lives of those affected by malaria by texting MALARIA to 27722, which allows the giver to make a $10 donation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way to keep\u00a0Christ in Christmas<\/a>\u00a0is to be Christ in Christmas,” said the Rev. Robb McCoy, associate pastor of Riverside United Methodist Church, Moline, Ill.<\/p>\n

Writing in his blog,\u00a0The Fat Pastor<\/a>, he added, \u201cIf you want to find Christ this Christmas, you can still find him. \u2026 No one can take Christ out of Christmas where the people of God are being the body of Christ.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to keep Christ in Christmas, then\u00a0spend as much money on others in need as you do on your family<\/a>\u00a0for gifts. Work for justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God. Love your neighbors. Love your enemies. Forgive.\u201d<\/p>\n

But reclaiming Christmas doesn\u2019t end at midnight Tuesday, Nov. 27.<\/p>\n

Simplify, volunteer and support<\/h3>\n

Collaborating with the Rev. Mike Slaughter of Ginghamsburg Church, a United Methodist congregation in Tipp City, Ohio,\u00a0Rethink Church<\/a>\u00a0is providing sermon resources and launching a national media campaign to help promote the movement to simplify, volunteer and support this Christmas season. Those on social media may add a\u00a0twibbon to their Facebook and Twitter profiles<\/a>\u00a0to show support that they’ve taken the pledge to reclaim Christmas as well as download images for their Facebook covers.<\/p>\n

Offer relief and hope<\/h3>\n

The United Methodist Committee on Relief is hard at work responding to survivors of Hurricane Sandy. But its span extends far beyond the United States, and generous givers will find many ideas for alternative gifts in theUMCOR Alternative Gift Catalog<\/a>. Possibilities range from purchasing a cleaning bucket, providing a meal for a child and buying a bed net to prevent malaria to training a community health worker, renovating a clinic in Africa and buying fair-trade coffee. One hundred percent of every gift toUMCOR through The Advance<\/a>\u00a0goes to the project of the giver\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n

Nurture leaders<\/h3>\n

Another giving opportunity is the\u00a0Lewis Center for Church Leadership<\/a>\u00a0at United Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington. The center has an arrangement with Cokesbury and Amazon so that shoppers at both online sites can support the center with their purchases. By entering the sites through the center\u2019s homepage, shoppers can be assured a portion of the proceeds will go to the center.<\/p>\n

Always remember others<\/h3>\n

Store-bought presents have a way of fading from memory. Gifts from the heart stay there.<\/p>\n

A member of First United Methodist Church in Franklin, Tenn., shares her story.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Thanksgiving, I purchased via Internet and a toll-free phone call, eight bikes and eight helmets for the\u00a061st Avenue United Methodist Church Last-Minute Toy Store<\/a>\u00a0in Nashville, Tenn.\u00a0This ministry<\/a>\u00a0has been a passion of mine for many years. A few years ago, while I was helping a woman shop for her small child, a toddler\u2019s bike was rolled into the gift area. She looked at me and asked if she could get the bike. I said \u2018yes\u2019 and grabbed it. The look of joy in her eyes was something I will never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she didn\u2019t. Thanks to 50th-birthday gifts of money from this woman\u2019s friends, eight children will receive shiny, new bikes.<\/p>\n

For more about how The United Methodist Church celebrates the season of Christmas, visit umc.org\/advent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

*Dunlap-Berg is internal content editor for United Methodist Communications, Nashville, Tenn.<\/em><\/p>\n

News media contact: Barbara Dunlap-Berg, Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470 or\u00a0newsdesk@umcom.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texting MALARIA to 27722 on Nov. 27 for #GIVING TUESDAY sends a $10 donation to the United Methodist Church\u2019s Imagine No Malaria. A UMNS graphic by Kathleen Barry. A UMNS Feature by Barbara Dunlap-Berg* With\u00a0Black Friday\u00a0and\u00a0Small Business Saturday\u00a0behind and hours left inCyber Monday, it\u2019s time to gear up for Nov. 27 \u2014\u00a0Giving Tuesday. It\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":2713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[125,3],"tags":[148,147,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-2712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-emergency-response","8":"category-umns","9":"tag-christmas","10":"tag-generosity","11":"tag-umns"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/umns12_336_1.png?fit=600%2C347&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-HK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2712"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2718,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712\/revisions\/2718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}